HTML5: W3C vs WHATWG. Which gives the most authoritative spec?

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I'm in halfway trough an html parser and found html5 defined explicitly the rules of thumb for parsing ill formed html. (And I used to infer them from DTDs, sigh)

I love that fact, but I know well that html5 isn't finalized yet (also I wonder if it ever will) and that it isn't developed by the W3C, but by the WHATWG.

Searching for the spec I need I'm presented with:

or

If it wasn't for the section numbers I would induce those are simply the same. But the different numbering makes me wonder. Which version is, supposedly, the most authoritative?

WHATWG seems to have more sections, and to have been added to since W3C uploaded its candidate recommendation.

Will W3C update to the WHATWG version?
Or will they stick to their current candidate until it gets to the official recommendation status?

Which html5 spec are we poor devils supposed to follow, when in doubt?

w3c html-parsing html
6 Answers

https://www.w3.org/html/ gives a clear answer to this old but still actual question:

https://html.spec.whatwg.org/multipage/ is the current HTML standard. It obsoletes all other previously-published HTML specifications.

As announced at https://www.w3.org/blog/2019/05/w3c-and-whatwg-to-work-together-to-advance-the-open-web-platform/, the W3C and the WHATWG signed an agreement to collaborate on the development of a single version of the HTML and DOM specifications:

https://html.spec.whatwg.org/multipage/ is the single version of HTML being actively developed https://dom.spec.whatwg.org/ is the single version of the DOM specification being actively developed. For further details about the W3C-WHATWG agreement, see the Memorandum of Understanding Between W3C and WHATWG.

The part "obsoletes all other previously-published HTML specifications" means that https://www.w3.org/TR/html52/ is considered obsolete.

P.S. The URL from the question, http://www.w3.org/TR/html5/syntax.html#parsing, redirects to https://html.spec.whatwg.org/multipage/parsing.html#parsing.

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